Digital assets: what we take on and how a file starts
Digital assets sit across four practices at the firm, and each one answers a different question. This page names the four, states what each decides, and sets out how a file starts. It does not answer any legal question on its own.
The pillar covers tokenised value, brand assets tied to a platform, obligations under anti-money-laundering rules, and the data layer beneath all three. A single file often touches two or three of these at once. That is the normal case, not the exception.
What sits under this pillar
The table below lists the four practices and the decision each one is built to answer. Use it to route a query before you write to us.
| Practice | Decision it answers |
|---|---|
| Intellectual property overview | Who owns a given asset, and how ownership is proven or transferred. |
| Compliance and AML for obliged entities | Whether an entity is obliged under the applicable regime, and what that obligation requires. |
| Data, security and AI obligations | What the platform must do with personal data, logs and automated decisions. |
| Trade marks, designs and brand portfolios | How a brand or design is registered, defended and licensed across markets. |
These four rarely stand alone. A wallet provider registering a mark also carries an AML obligation and a data question. We treat the file as one matter with several fronts, not as four separate engagements.
How a file starts
A file opens the same way regardless of which practice it lands in first.
- Send us the facts: the asset, the jurisdiction, and what triggered the question.
- A partner reads the file and responds within minutes during working hours.
- We flag which of the four practices the matter touches.
- You receive a scope and a quote within one business day.
- Work starts once the scope is confirmed in writing.
We do not open a file on a guess. If the facts are thin, the first step is a short call to fill the gaps, not a proposal built on assumption.
Who decides
No single body governs digital assets as a whole. Each practice answers to a different forum: a registry for ownership, a supervisory authority for AML status, a data protection authority for the data layer. The right forum is named on the practice page once the facts are known.
Common forks
If your question is about who owns a token, a smart contract, or a piece of code, start with intellectual property. If your question is about whether your platform must register as an obliged entity, start with compliance and AML. If your question is about what you may store, log or automate, start with data and security. If your question is about a name, a logo or a design used across markets, start with trade marks and designs.
Many files start in one column and end up needing two. That is expected. Tell us the full picture at the outset rather than in stages — it shortens the file, not lengthens it.
Limits of this page
This page does not state which registries apply to a given asset, does not name a deadline for a given filing, and does not price any of the four practices. Those answers sit on the practice pages, once the jurisdiction and the asset are known. Nothing here should be read as legal advice on a live matter.
Verified
This overview page carries no statutory reference and no case citation. It is a map of the pillar, reviewed for accuracy on the date the page was last updated. Practice pages beneath it carry their own sources and their own review dates.
FAQ
What does this shift for a business already operating?
It depends on which of the four practices your facts touch. A platform handling tokens may face an AML question it did not face a year ago; a brand expanding into a new market may face a registration question it never had before. The relevant practice page states the specific shift.
Which deadline applies?
There is no single deadline across the pillar. Registration deadlines, filing deadlines and reporting deadlines each belong to a different practice and a different regime. The practice page for your asset states the deadline once we know the asset and the jurisdiction.
What do you need from us to start?
Three things: the asset itself, the jurisdiction it sits in, and the event that triggered the question. With those three, a partner can route the file and respond within minutes.